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Paramount Snags Rights to Graphic Novel 'Last Man Standing'

by Ethan Anderton
August 12, 2010
Source: Deadline

Since returning from my first Comic-Con, there have been a couple of instances in my scouring the web for recaps of the happenings at the convention that I've kicked myself for missing out on picking up something kick-ass that a fellow colleague stumbled upon. Yet another item has manifested itself in the form of a sci-fi graphic novel called Last Man Standing which Deadline reports has just been purchased by Paramount with the intention of turning this into a franchise. The story, which takes place 600 years in the future of an alternate universe, follows an invincible soldier named Gabriel created to help win Earth's war against Mars.

After Gabriel has given Earth a victory he finds himself being praised as a hero and becomes a celebrity of sorts. But then things take a turn for the worse when Gabriel is framed for a heinous crime by a man named Dante ad his terrorist organization known as Pendemonium. Gabriel is then sentenced to nine years in the Level-9 Facility, the most godawful prison in existence. Things really get heavy once Gabriel breaks out and twists and turns manifest themselves as the story unravels. This sounds cool as hell! Apparently the graphic novel isn't kicking off in a conventional way though. Creator and artist Daniel LuVisi told Geek Chic Daily:

“As for the entire series, it's a story of mine I've been crafting over the past two and a half years. I want it to be a graphic novel series, but start it in a non-traditional type way. Where most comics start off with a first issue, this starts off with a 230-page bible of a book, 'Killbook of a Bounty Hunter,' that sets up the entire universe of the [Last Man Standing] world. But not only that, the audience gets an incredibly deep perspective on the protagonist, Gabriel, and what his plans are now that he's escaped from Level-9.”

If you're now as interested as I am in this property, you can pre-order the Killbook of a Bounty Hunter here. The graphic novel is expected to ship either later this month or in early September. In the meantime you can check out a preview of the novel right here, and read the rest of Geek Chic Daily's interview with Lu Visi at their website. If Hollywood deals like this are teaching us anything, it's that any high concept potential film property should go the route of a comic book or graphic novel, promote itself like crazy at Comic-Con, and wait for the offers to start rolling in. Of course, the book needs to actually be good. What do you think?

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